Amazon bets on games with dedicated dev engine Lumberyard

Amazon has launched its own game engine -- and is offering it to developers for free.

Named Lumberyard, Amazon claims it is powerful enough to produce "triple-A" current console generation quality games, and will allow developers to integrate Twitch -- which Amazon bought for £585m in 2014 -- into their creations.

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Lumberyard is offered free as a way of boosting development for Amazon's own platforms, but the company has also struck deals with Sony and Microsoft for use of their official tools. That means aspiring developers can create games for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with the engine, and Amazon won't even charge a royalty or subscription fee.

Instead, Amazon plans to make money from Lumberyard through Amazon Web Services, its server backend that will help enable online play through the cloud. Developers using Lumberyard are allowed to run their own servers, but if they choose to have online support through a third party, it has to be provided by Amazon, through its new, paid Gamelift service. Twitch integration will also help line Amazon's pockets, as it further entrenches the game streaming platform as the dominant player in the field.

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The engine isn't entirely new though. Lumberyard is based on CryEngine, which Amazon licensed from Crytek and modified. Lumberyard is described as a "branch" of the technology, and already has its own distinct components. It boasts native C++ access thanks to the AWS integration, and introduces low-latency networking, based on code created by Double Helix -- another Amazon acquisition -- when it was working on Xbox One's Killer Instinct. Future versions are expected to diverge further from the root CryEngine. "We're going our own direction here, and over time that will increase substantially," Lumberyard's general manager Eric Schenk told Gamasutra.

Given its CryEngine roots, it's little surprise that Lumberyard will also support Oculus' software development kit (although the beta version that is currently available does not). Crytek has already pushed out several impressive virtual reality demos on its own, and with the technology finally reaching consumer hands this year, it's easy to understand why Amazon would want Lumberyard to be capable of meeting future demand.

The launch of a dedicated game engine will also add fuel to long-running rumours that Amazon plans a major play for the gaming market. While its Fire tablets support games, most Amazon products so far have leaned on the Android mobile gaming infrastructure. If Lumberyard takes off, we could see more traditional consoles or game-on-demand streaming from Amazon.